Just
recently I wrote a piece about Keith
John Sampson, a college student who was charged with "racial harassment"
for reading an anti-Ku Klux Klan book. Not surprisingly, the
article evoked a great response, including emails from those with their
own stories to tell about persecution inspired by what I will call caucaphobia.
A couple of these accounts are so compelling - compared to one even
Sampson's problems pale - that I've decided to publish them in this
piece (both readers allowed me to use their names; their correspondence
has been edited for punctuation, grammar and style). These are the stories
the mainstream media won't tell, straight from the front lines of the
culture war. They give voice to a persecution whose name most dare not
utter.

First
we have Mr. David Gonzalez of Illinois. He wrote:

Dear
Mr. Duke,

I can
empathize with Mr. Sampson. I've been through the same sort of ordeal.
After retiring from the U.S. Navy, I accepted a position with Chicago's
Museum of Science and Industry as its Manager of Safety (I'm a safety
engineer). After four years there, a female (black-militant) employee
noticed my tie bar (Celtic knot-work with the emblem of my Celtic
family - despite my Iberian surname, gained by being adopted, my genetic
heritage is Scot/Irish) and asked me what it was. Stupidly, I responded,
'This? Oh, it's just my clan badge [referring to the Scottish clan
from which he was descended].'

I'll
leave it to you to guess what ensued. I'll tell you this: by the next
morning, the rumor that I had been 'outed' as a Klansman had spread,
like wildfire, through the ranks of the museum's black employees (~
60%). Two security officers frog-marched me out of a class I had been
teaching (with every black person in the room glaring at
me, with utter loathing!) and escorted me to my boss's office
- there to be grilled by him. Later in the day, I was called back
in and fired from my position.

As I
said, I can empathize.

Note
that the very people who tout multiculturalism, ethnic sensitivity and
tolerance violated the tenets of all three in their names. Not only
was no respect shown for Mr. Gonzalez' display of ethnicity, but he
was actually punished for it. That's what happens when you have the
"wrong" ethnic heritage.

But
the hypocrisy doesn't end there. Despite the fact that one of the main
links at the museum's website
is labeled "education," management made no attempt to educate employees
who were obviously too ignorant to know what a Scottish clan is and
too bigoted to listen to reason. Instead, because of caucaphobia and/or
cowardice, Gonzalez' boss listened to the mob that preferred Barabbas
and crucified a good man.

The
next testimonial is, believe it or not, even more staggering. It comes
to us from Mr. Greg Reese, who wrote:

Dear
Mr. Duke:

In the
fall of 1994, I (a white American) began studying at American University
in Washington, DC. At the time, I lived on campus with my Japanese
roommate. I lived with him for a year and a half. In the spring of
1996, he and I started to develop problems living together. One day,
while in the restroom speaking with another student, I made the comment
that 'we should just nuke the f******,' in reference to the Japanese.
Little did I know at the time, my roommate was standing outside and
overheard the comment. A few days later he moved out of the room we
shared.

After
that, I started to receive harassing calls. I would have unknown Japanese
students knocking on my door in the middle of the night. Later, I
had my property destroyed with a note from a Japanese student that
he would drop a bomb on me. This was then reported to and filed with
campus security.

A few
days later, I had numerous charges of 'threats, harassment, and intimidation'
filed against me not by my roommate but the floor's Resident Assistant
[RA]. In a meeting with him and the Area Director [AD] (a black immigrant
from Africa), I asked how I 'threatened' my roommate - the AD stated
'It was because he felt threatened.' I was also told not
to go near my roommate or further charges would be filed.

I then contested
the filing of the charges with the Director of Judicial Affairs
(a black woman) who then had the RA amend the charges to represent
my creating a 'threatening' environment for the residents on the
entire floor. This was done to justify the RA filing the charges
rather than my ex-roommate, since I could not counter-file charges
against the RA, who represented the university [in other words,
they wanted to make sure he was powerless to resist this racial
persecution]. I was also told by the director that this was being
viewed as a 'racial' incident.

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At the
time I was home on Spring Break. Due to all the stress created by
the charges and a scheduled judicial hearing - where I faced potentially
being expelled from the university - under medical advice I did not
return to the university the rest of the semester. By not returning
the situation escalated further.

Because
I was enrolled full time, I drove 3.5 hours to Washington to meet
with my professors concerning my classes and would return home. Unfortunately,
I was not able to meet with all of them. I then requested the assistance
of the dean of the business school to attempt to get incompletes for
my classes. The incompletes were given with the forms signed on my
behalf by the dean; however, that information was never provided to
me. I thus failed the courses.

While
at home, I would receive harassing phone calls from the Office of
Judicial Affairs. On one message I was told I was a 'liar' when I
had told the director I was no longer living at the university because
I had been 'seen' on campus. When I returned to the university to
get my possessions out of my dorm room, I was greeted by six security
officers. I was escorted to my room, allowed to get my things and
then taken to the campus security office, where I was photographed
and told that if I ever step foot in the dorm again, I will be arrested
by the DC police for 'criminal trespassing.' Apparently, at the request
of the RA, I had been 'barred' from the dorm but yet was never provided
this information. I had requested the information from security regarding
the request the RA had made but they refused to provide it, stating
it could be 'libel.'

In the
fall of 1996, my [Japanese] roommate and I spend the semester studying
abroad in London. I made various offices at the university aware of
the charges and that he and I would be together. I was told I would
be allowed to go, but should there be any 'problems,' I would be immediately
sent back to the United States and none of what I paid for that semester
would be refunded. Then, after speaking with the Director of Residential
Life the charges were dropped. She stated that my roommate would be
going back to Japan and without their 'key witness' they had no case.
Additionally, she basically stated that next time I should keep my
mouth shut, saying 'think before you speak.'

During
all of my communication with the university, I was told that everything
was being done on my roommate's behalf. However, at the end of 1996,
the director of the London program, my roommate, and I had the first
opportunity to discuss what had occurred. My roommate admitted it
was not racial, that he was just angry because we were having problems
living together, and that it was the RA that approached him initially.
Furthermore, everything that had happened to me on his 'behalf' he
was totally unaware of.

In the
spring of 1997, I was supposed to graduate from American. However,
given the status of my courses from the spring of 1996, that was in
doubt. Upon returning to campus, I was informed that although the
charges had been dropped, the barring from the dorm had not been.
Additionally, the university's 'solution' to my classes was for me
to 'sit in' on the courses and retake them and then I could graduate
in the fall of 1997. However, this apparently was not 'officially'
sanctioned by the Registrar's Office.

Given
a year's worth of threats, harassment, and intimidation by the university,
I believed it to be nothing but a hostile environment at that point.
I then submitted the paperwork to the university to withdraw. However,
because of the 'reasons' for my withdrawal, the dean refused to sign
the paperwork. To this day, I do not know when or how I was withdrawn
since they refused to provide me that information.

A year
later, I then received information from the Department of Education
[DOE] concerning my financial aid. According to their records, I had
borrowed several thousand dollars for the spring 1997 semester. I
had informed them that I had withdrawn and therefore did not borrow
the money. They had no record of this. Apparently, there was a 'glitch'
in the computer system according to the university. The money eventually
was refunded to DOE but not within the 30 days required by law. I
then filed a complaint with the DOE's Office of Civil Rights given
everything that had happened. However, since my complaint was being
filed after the180 day limit from the first incident, it was not accepted.

Upon
withdrawing from American, I then spent another 2.5 years in school
to finish my degree by transferring to a local community college and
then to the University of Miami in Florida. By doing so, I also put
myself in debt another $30,000 on top of the $30,000 borrowed to attend
American.

While
I have not been at American for years, the loans have been a consistent
issue. I received no benefit from that money since I had to repeat
everything all over again. Thus, I have been in a constant dispute
with the DOE. Their response has been, 'You signed the note. You attended
the classes. You owe us the money.' However, my point to them has
been that for American University to qualify for the federal loan
program they must comply with Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act,
which mandates equal treatment in all operations of the university,
which was not the case. I filed charges with security for being threatened
by a Japanese student and nothing was done. I did nothing to my roommate
and had the full weight of the university fall upon me.

As a
result of my refusal to pay the loans, DOE has since garnished my
wages. I was informed by them that I have a right to a hearing to
contest the garnishment. I filed the appropriate forms and sent 120
pages of documents regarding the situation. My hearing was denied
and the garnishment imposed. According to DOE, I had attended American
until August of 2000, and, therefore, because I was still at the school,
I needed to repay.

When
I spoke with the representative of DOE (a black woman), she stated
that I 'alleged' discrimination but did not prove it. I asked her
where the August 2000 date came from; she told me it was provided
by American University. I told her that they were providing fraudulent
information because I was at Miami at the time. She then became very
belligerent, stating 'I know how to do my job' and hung up on me.

So,
12 years later, I am still dealing with the repercussions of a simple
comment made in a restroom at the university. Because of the various
individuals involved and their own racist agenda, I have essentially
had my life ruined. The future that I felt I was going to have when
I first arrived at the university was taken away from me and their
actions have cost me dearly - mentally, emotionally, and financially.
Every two weeks when I get paid and have the garnishment taken I am
reminded of what happened. Of course, the absolute irony in all of
this is that I'm still friends with my roommate.

In conclusion,
I would like you to know how much I appreciate what you wrote in describing
the situation Keith Sampson unfortunately found himself in. Your statement,
'people of low character, often vile, ignorant, unintelligent individuals'
is very accurate, although phrased much nicer than I would say it.

Unbelievable,
isn't it? It's a story so outrageous that if the mainstream media actually
did their job, Mr. Reese would be on 60 Minutes. Just imagine, a young
man pays a pretty penny to attend a university, with dreams of bettering
himself. Then, using as a pretext a loose comment no different from
millions of others students make every day, the caucaphobic institution
that took his money embarks upon a racial conspiracy to destroy him.

And
these stories - Sampson's, the two here, the Duke lacrosse witch hunt
- are simply those we hear about. For every one of them, how many never
see the light of media exposure?

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Moreover,
if America continues on its present course, the thought-police predators
who lurk on college campuses will extend their hunting grounds beyond
the academy. In Europe, Canada and elsewhere, hate-speech laws have
already empowered such scoundrels in the wider society. Thus, should
we visit such laws on ourselves by continuing to elect leftists, you
may one day find yourself at the mercy of a statist bureaucrat, a far
lesser person who at best will be a mindless cog in the machinery of
government, at worst a vindictive social engineer bent on your destruction.
He will have more hatred than brains, more hubris than humanity, and
more power than you. Then you will have your own story to tell.

Selwyn Duke lives in Westchester
County, New York. He's a tennis professional, internet entrepreneur and
writer whose works have appeared on various sites on the Internet, including
Intellectual Conservative, nenewamerica.us (Alan Keyes) and Mensnet. Selwyn
has traveled extensively in his life, visiting exotic locales such as
India, Morocco and Algeria and quite a number of other countries while
playing the international tennis circuit.

As outrageous as
the story is, what is more troubling than the facts Sampson provided is
what he omitted. He failed to identify the cultural forces responsible
for his persecution or even hint at the wider problem.